Osteochondrosis is a disease when the vertebrae are damaged, which causes compression of the intervertebral discs. This leads to pain due to pinched nerve fibers. Narrowed blood flow leads to disruption of internal organs. When this disease appears in the cervical spine, it affects the blood supply to the soft tissues of the head and brain, disrupting the passage of nerve impulses to the central nervous system.
Why does cervical osteochondrosis occur?
This condition can be caused by:
- Hereditary predisposition to a decrease in the volume of the intervertebral discs.
- Back, neck or limb injuries.
- Weakening of skeletal muscles.
- Difficult working conditions.
- Improper or excessive weight training.
- Infectious diseases.
- Shoes that provoke changes in gait, which increases the load on the spine.
- Unbalanced diet.
- Genetic diseases.
Most of the causes that provoke cervical osteochondrosis and its symptoms can be prevented.It is required to create the right conditions for work, as well as the choice of physical activities that strengthen the muscles that support the spine. But this is not always possible to do in time, because a person rarely thinks about a problem that does not yet exist. Therefore, you should know what are the most common signs of osteochondrosis of the neck:
- reduced range of motion;
- constant or throbbing pain;
- cracking of vertebrae during head movement;
- headaches that do not go away with medication;
- numbness of one or more limbs;
- limb tremors or involuntary muscle contractions;
- dizziness, loss of coordination of movements or consciousness;
- tinnitus (ringing or ringing in the ears);
- problems remembering or using learned information;
- loss of memories;
- problems with the work of the sphincters of the rectum and bladder neck.
Each osteochondrosis of the neck is unique and affects different functions of the body, so some of the symptoms may be absent. But patients always experience difficulty in turning the head, pain and when the condition worsens, headache and dizziness.
How to determine the disease at home
Pain from osteochondrosis can be throbbing, short-term and long-term and constantly bothers a person. When the neck is affected, the discomfort extends to the shoulder girdle and is most often located on the side of the working arm. In this case, the pain can be both in the neck and between the shoulders and affect the whole arm.
The complexity of the diagnosis arises from the fact that discomfort can change over time, due to changes in body position, stress or other reasons. Therefore, the first signs of osteochondrosis can be attributed to excessive strain or muscle strain. But over time, attacks of pain and stiffness become more frequent and intense, which requires determining the cause and starting treatment.
It is quite difficult to independently determine the cause of pain in cervical osteochondrosis at home.In order to justify suspicions of osteochondrosis, it is necessary to exclude other options. Most often, pain is caused by muscle strain, wrong posture while sleeping or at work. Therefore, it is necessary to improve these conditions to understand if they are the main source of unpleasant sensations.
If neck problems persist, then this is a serious symptom that can speak of both osteochondrosis and other diseases, such assh.
- tumors;
- infections;
- compression of nerve roots.
Therefore, you should consult a doctor and take an X-ray. This will let you know if there are injuries or other signs of outside influence.
After it became known that the neck was affected by osteochondrosis, regardless of the methods of obtaining information, it is still unclear what caused the disease. You can independently determine only the violation of working conditions, energy loads and injuries. The rest of the diseases can be recognized only after you have passed a thorough examination - this is necessary, because an infection affecting the spine or other similar disorders pose a serious risk to health and life.
How to treat osteochondrosis with medicines and folk remedies
After making a diagnosis, you must approve a treatment plan that the doctor will draw up or create it yourself. When choosing its points, it is important to emphasize an integrated approach to the selection of tools and the systematic implementation of all recommendations.
What to do with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine:
- apply medicines;
- use folk remedies;
- performing physiotherapy;
- change your lifestyle in order to eliminate the underlying cause of the disease.
Medicines include:
- Oral and topical preparations that relieve pain and reduce inflammation, but do not contain steroid substances.
- Painkillers containing corticosteroids.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Antidepressants (if the work of the central nervous system is depressed, which caused a violation of the emotional background).
- Anti-inflammatory ointment.
- Plaster for pain relief.
Popular methods include:
- Herbal decoctions and infusions used orally. The effect of funds depends on the raw materials used for them. These can be general strengthening ingredients that saturate the body with useful substances, as well as pain relievers or anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Compresses - most often heated, in order to relieve the spasm of the neck muscles and allow the spine to return to its original position.
- Rubbing - rubbing folk remedies on the skin, often combined with massage or self-massage. It has another direction of action, but it is most often used for pain relief, warming and muscle relaxation.
Physiotherapy includes:
- Massage performed by a medical professional - medical procedures have a beneficial effect on the spine and back muscles. In case of violations in the neck, you cannot use the services of a massage therapist who specializes in conducting only relaxation sessions.
- Self-massage - correctly performed actions help to warm the neck muscles, relieve spasms and restore blood circulation in the cervical and shoulder regions.
- Improving working conditions, choosing the right furniture to maintain the right posture and in sedentary work - frequent breaks during which physical movements are performed.
- Increasing the number of walks, using shoes with shock-absorbing heels. Walking helps to create the right load on the back, especially in the lumbar region, due to which the clamps on the skeletal muscles are removed and the spine returns to the correct anatomical position.
- Performing a warm-up in the morning, including both exercises for the neck and shoulder girdle, and touching other parts of the body. In this case, all movements are done only with their own weight, or in rare cases light dumbbells are allowed.
- Sauna or bath - a visit to the steam room with a course of 10-12 times can significantly reduce the tension in the back muscles and activate the body's metabolic processes.
- Procedures prescribed by the doctor and carried out with the help of special equipment (electrophoresis, etc. ).
In addition, swimming in the pool is a good way to maintain optimal muscle tone, relieve spasms and eliminate atrophy. This should be done continuously, and should be started as soon as the inflammation stops. The first visits should be given a moderate load on the shoulder girdle, after which it should be gradually increased until swimming becomes a full workout.
Depending on the doctor's recommendations, remission occurs quite quickly if the disease has not returned to a moderate or severe form. But it is important to remember that even the complete disappearance of symptoms is not a sign of a cure.